v1-13: The Lord Jesus taught about prayer; a vital part of our experience. The main themes are, somewhat paradoxically, God's willingness and generosity, and our need to be persistent.

v1: Luke records several instances of Jesus praying. It is not that He 'needed' to pray, but that He chose to. As the perfect man, He set an example, and we must learn from Him. The disciples asked for rules, but He gave a pattern.

v2: The prayer is collective; the word, "our" appears nine times.

We address God as Father; that is the relationship into which Christ has brought us. This was something very significant for His Jewish disciples. The prayer puts God first, His glory, His kingdom, His will. Prayer should be God-centred, not self-centred. In this context we can bring our own needs to Him.

Only as we pray "you will be done" (NIV margin; Matt 6.10) can we become totally subject to Him. Since He is God, this is the right thing to do.

Our God is accessible, for He is Father, so we may be bold. Our God is great, so we must be reverent.

v3-4: Having put God first, we may ask for ourselves, but even here we cast ourselves upon His mercy, declaring that we are dependent upon Him. We are not to pray in a selfish way;

• we pray about daily needs, knowing that He provides for His own;
• we pray about sins, forgiveness, and righteousness, knowing He is holy.

v5-8: Illustrating the teaching in v9-10; we are to be persistent in prayer, not because God is unwilling, but because we really care. Our generation expects instant answers to superficial requests; this is quiet different from the standard taught here. See also 18.1-8. Prayer is strongly linked to a godly lifestyle. Personal convenience is to be laid aside for the blessing of others.

v9-10: Persistence rewarded; no time is inconvenient to God; He is the true friend at midnight; these verses promise answers. English versions are not clear here; ask, seek, knock, are continuous verbs; keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking.

v11-13: The generous Father; any father would give bread, fish, egg; how much more our Father in Heaven! God's gifts are not earned, not even by prayer, yet He is no man's debtor. He will give what is needed, not necessarily what is wanted.

He will give the Holy Spirit; much more than was asked for; Are our requests too small? The Holy Spirit was God's gift to His people, given at Pentecost.

v14: Jesus cast out a demon, and used the opportunity for further teaching. He taught what He practised; we must put into practice what we learn from Him.

v15-16: Opposition from unspiritual people. In the early part of Jesus' ministry, the Pharisees might have said such things of Him, and indeed Matthew refers to the Pharisees here (Matt 12.24). But here Luke simply says "some" and "others"; it was not just religious leaders who rejected Him. Those who were not willing to follow Jesus now mocked and criticised Him.

v17-20: Simple, clear, logic from the Son of Man; He answered the people's attacks. He did not give any detailed explanation; Prov 26.5. However, His implication is strong - if this is indeed the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come with Him. The kingdom of God means wherever the rule of Jesus Christ is; it is manifested, for example, by healing the sick, casting out demons, people coming to faith, and by obedience to God.

v21-22: Satan is the strong man. The Lord is stronger, overcoming him, and dividing his spoils. This was prophesied in Is 53.12; and illustrated in v14 and in 13.16.

v23: In the context of spiritual conflict, whose side are we on? See 9.50, where the emphasis is slightly different.

v24-26: Demons, or unclean spirits; the reality of spiritual warfare; unseen forces at work in men's lives. We dare not ignore or dismiss such things, even though some misunderstand them, and others over-emphasise them.

The Lord Jesus taught that those who have tasted of Him, perhaps like the mute man (v14), would experience the seven more wicked spirits unless they truly followed Him. Many claim to have had an 'experience', yet have failed to trust Christ; see Heb 6.4-6. Their final state may indeed be worse than the first, see 2 Pet 2.21-22.

v27: The woman in the crowd was clearly impressed by Jesus actions and words. Her actual words may have been a particular Jewish blessing.

v28: Jesus' response, challenging to obedience. This was a key theme of this period of His ministry. Great blessing lies in hearing and obeying what God says through His Son. See v31-32 below.

v29-30: Jesus knew the thoughts of all men (as in v17). We cannot hide our unspiritual attitudes from Him. He lived amongst unsympathetic, although very religious, people. There was no sign for this people, except those signs that had already been given. He mentioned Jonah, who was a sign to the Ninevites.

v31: The Queen of Sheba (Queen of the South) came many miles to listen to the wisdom of Solomon. Jesus is "one greater than Solomon". She listened to the word of God.

v32: The Ninevites repented at Jonah's preaching. Jesus is "one greater than Jonah". They obeyed the word of God.

v33-36: The significance of light. In a spiritual sense, light is essential in our lives. The key here is the eye, "the lamp of your body". The Lord Jesus seems to be speaking of spiritual insight.

v37: Luke relates an incident when Jesus ate with a Pharisee.

v38: Jesus knew the critical attitude, even though it was unspoken, of His host. The Pharisee was looking for disobedience in others; this was part of their attitude.

v39-52 Jesus used the opportunity to bring a series of criticisms of the Pharisees. The broad theme was their neglect of spiritual things in favour of material things, of which their criticism of His not washing was typical.

v39-41: They neglected unseen things in favour of visible things. Their regulations related to things that perish, see Col 2.20-23. Jesus implied that they also neglected the poor, hence His command to give to the poor.

v42: They neglected important things in favour of minor things.

v43: They looked for public praise and position.

v44: They had the ministry of death, but disguised and covered up.

v45-46: The scribe (expert in the law) hinders others from enjoying God's blessing, by loading them with burdens. Their false teaching could not produce true discipleship. See Peter's comment in Acts 15.10.

v47-51: The wider criticism, of "this generation", of whom the religious leaders were spokesmen. The people of Israel had killed the prophets sent from God, see 20.10-12. "This generation" would be held responsible, since they rejected the Son of Man.

His comment, from Abel to Zechariah, refers to the first righteous man killed, to the last righteous man killed, in the Jewish Bible. Their Bible had our O.T. books in a different sequence, ending with Chronicles. In 2 Chr 24.21-22, the king had Zechariah killed. The Lord thus honours the whole of the OT, accepting it as true.

v52: The experts in the law were blind leaders of the blind, missing out on God's blessings, and hindered others who sought God's blessing.

v53-54: The Lord had every right to expose religious pretence and did so firmly. If idolatry was the major target of the O.T. prophets, hypocrisy was the Lord's target in the gospels. Luke does not expand on the questions and attacks fired at Jesus.